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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Did a solo piano gig today. I haven't done it in awhile but as much as I had a large set list planned, I realized I can just make up anything on the fly. Maybe I take off on something recognizable then I just go off and then I never run out of anything to play. I had to do 2 continuous hours.

I'm glad I'm a jazz player. I don't have to worry about bringing music or even remembering that many tunes. I don't think I even opened my iPad.

I thought I might get intimidated because the setting was small space where it's like a piano bar. Meaning the audience tables are very near the piano. Not a problem.

hey wee good to hear. I haven't done any gigs in a while, been quiet this holiday season. For those background gigs where no one is listening I have just played random stuff, not even real tunes.

But I've had some shows where everyone is watching so I gotta do tunes then. Where was the gig at? Did you get a nice acoustic piano or one that wasn't maintained, hehe. I"ve had some duds, out of tune and bad action.

Would love to hear some of your solo stuff JW.I'm curious about the statement of not bringing sheets and not memorizing tunes. I find that on the contrary, on solo gigs, you need quite a bit of music handy because you get a lot more requests than playing in a group.

Also curious whether your ipad has melodies. I haven't really dug into getting a nice setup for on-the-go sheet music. My 10" screen is ok, but bigger would be nice. Also for sheets that are on multiple pages, it hasn't really worked.

Well Knotty, when you're playing background, people are chatting and conversing. Their focus is not on you. But they like hearing the tinkle of the keys. They listen for short bursts. I'm not like the old days where I'm so focused on my playing. I can play and look around. So I'm watching who's paying attention.

The setup was really great. Tables are set just a few feet away from the piano. They sectioned off the larger room which had lots more people but the main party I was serving could hear me well. No more than 35 people dining. I was within hearing though of maybe another 50 people.

As I was watching, I could tell that there was no one completely listening. Given that, I decided that it was a waste time doing certain things. No one would remember if I played an entire tune. Some people came by to chat too so I was able to "tinkle" while I chat. I can play any progression I make and improvise. I imagine they would think I'm playing a real tune.

This is so different from my band gigs where we are definitely not background. People are watching us intently and clapping on solos. Normally, I don't like solo piano gigs because of this. However, when you play as closely to the people as I did, they can definitely hear me well. For my efforts I got paid $100 and had a fancy buffet lunch...And to top it off, it was a freshly tuned Steinway O. I played longer than I was informed originally but it was fine.

BTW this idea of making stuff up as I play is something I specifically worked on. It came from the Kenny Werner deal of "There is No Wrong Note". Then at our gigs, we started to do jams just based on random progressions. It's kind of enabling because it makes me play continuously with no fear. I also play like this before the band starts so I'm used to doing it in front of people. If the bass player and drummer join me, it sounds like we did a real tune.

Now specifically as far as my gig is concerned, I'm looking for more uptempo (no Ballads), Jazz Swing/Latin/Bossa that are good for blowing over. The crowd in this gig doesn't handle ballads well (maybe because they're so noisy).

For example, Have Yourself a Merry Christmas is fantastic for chord changes (like My Romance) but I'd have to come up with some idea to make it more energetic.

If you've got a tune with I IV V, or some other progression that isn't too exciting, use it as an exercise to see how many II-Vs you can add, before the IV, V or any other chord. Or, how many times can you add a dominant chord a half step up before the target chord. You can make more complex progressions. Not sure I could do this at anything other than a moderate tempo, so that may be a problem.

I think a good example of what you're talking about is Let it Snow. The jazz changes are fast moving and difficult. Played it last night and I've never seen the changes before. Lots of dominant chords (not enough time for the ii chord). But in my ear, it's just a simple I-IV-V tune.

I'd probably never take this reharm step live though. I'd have to practice it first. Thanks for forcing me to think about it.

...It's got to be jazz sounding and great to blow over. Unfortunately most tunes are I-IV-V...

Anyway, I'd love to hear some ideas.

Hmm, what music isn't really just I V I dressed up a bit? The trick is to treat each chord as potential movement within the stability.So, for Frosty the Snowman which is basically only those three chords, why not play ( in C for instance) C, Dm G7, C Gm7 C7 F F#m7b5 B7 Em Gm7 C7 over the lyrics 'Frosty the Snowman was a Jolly Happy Soul' effectively changing the C to F to C into something more jazz friendly. Many other additions and subs can be added too of course, but those are the most easy and obvious.

edit: oh...I see all the NPR stuff Chris posted. Some stellar stuff there!

long story short--changed jobs, was practicing guitar, violin and cello for about 4 months-- no time for anything. Getting a bit fat too...But now I have some time again! Man, will this thread ever die?

This is how we'll be playing it next week. Anyone wants to try it out?

I tried the first two lines. When you say this is a reharm, does this mean that the basic chordal structure dismissed? The first four chords are usually I, or based upon I, then lead to V, or things based on V leading back to I. From what I heard in this reharm, this is taking another approach. Maybe using the ii and v subs, but never resolving to any of the structure chords? It's interesting stuff. I'd love to hear a recording of it.

Made a slight modification above on the last line. Mainly I'm changing to make sure the Singer doesn't get lost so I made the harmony closer.

So as a reharm, it's basically completely different harmonically but the original melody fits in it.

We will be performing this on Thursday but in the meantime I've been playing with it solo piano to tweak it. I wouldn't even think to analyze this since the idea is to come up with something completely different. The only guide here is the melody.

Sloppy but we played it for the first time and only once. And I didn't even expect the singer to actually come in. We were prepared for an instrumental head. I learned a few things here. It's very hard to do a Reharm with a singer because they have to stick to melody and ignore the harmony.

The other thing is that strong melodies (like Silent Night) can easily be understood with a reharm.

Also with a singer, we could have played it straight on the head and then switch to the reharm.